Battle-3 Ragnorak
Kenichi had been in the town for three days. Ever since he had beat up those punks, more and more loads of cannon fodder had come in batches of twos and threes and had the worst beatings of their life inflicted upon them. And that was when Kenichi was holding back is strength.
"Life is so cruel! I am so unpopular. The Ragnorak Gang hates me. And no one in this town helps me at all." Kenichi moaned at his fate and at the uncooperative attitude of the townspeople. He was also running out of money and he was now seriously wondering whether to return back to Ryouzanpaku. He walked to the ramen stall and ordered a bowl of ramen. As usual, everyone kept away from him. They still did not have enough courage to speak to him, fearing that Ragnorak would beat them up if they talked to him. Kenichi thoughtfully stirred his noodles. On the positive side, he was getting a lot of practice.
Kenichi was still in the process of eating his noodles when a man who looked like he worked for someone rich enough to hire him (go figure) and whispered in his ear.
"Mr. Otoharada would like to speak to you outside."
Kenichi slurped down his noodles in one go and wiped his face. He stepped outside the stall and saw a large Honda Civic standing outside.
So he is just moderately well off. Kenichi thought. The man opened the car's door for Kenichi and motioned him to sit down inside. Fearing nothing, Kenichi sat inside. Besides him sat a middle aged man who had two rings on each hand. Kenichi noticed that all four were genuine.
"Truthfully, I thought you were not that well off, Mr. Otoharada." Kenichi said.
"Oh this is my low profile car." Otoharada answered. Then he started.
"How did you know I was affluent?" He asked. In response Kenichi pointed at the rings.
"O yes, the rings. Very well." He rubbed his hands together.
"You wanted to talk to me about something?" Kenichi said pointedly.
"Ah well you see, my son happens to be a Savateur. You may not know what that is…" Otoharada said but Kenichi interrupted.
"He practices French kick boxing." Kenichi said.
"Yes well, he is actually the sixth fist of this Ragnorak gang. I would like you to bring him back. I tried to bring him back myself but a certain scary man whom the other fists referred as the Saint Fist killed my men. I would like you to do anything to bring him back. I will pay you a million yen!" Otoharada panted. He was asthmatic, Kenichi noted.
"Can you direct me to where this Ragnorak gang hangs out? And I only take money in advance." Kenichi asked. Otoharada motioned to the driver who drove to a derelict area where a lot of thugs looked at the car with rather dirty looks.
"I will be back at the ramen shop where we met." Otoharada said and the large car drove away. The thugs were looking at Kenichi.
"Hey kid. You are in the wrong neighborhood. Just give me all you have and I will escort you out." The biggest thug of them all spoke.
"Can I ask you your name?" Kenichi said.
"I am Daimonji, your bodyguard." He smiled.
Kenichi also smiled. Daimonji was very confused. No one ever smiled at his doom yet this puny specimen of a boy was smiling. A second later, Daimonji was even more confused. No puny specimen of a boy had thrown him this far into this many thugs. As a matter of fact, nobody had managed to throw him. He decided to pass out let his over-heated brain rest. Within a matter of seconds, the whole area erupted into a brawl which if someone looked at intently, would only turn out to be thugs running at Kenichi and getting kicked, punched, elbowed, thrown or kneed out of the way. Within a matter of seconds, all the thugs were knocked out. Kenichi stood, barely panting. Teasing Hermit was for more exhausting than this. These were nothing. Suddenly, someone started clapping. Kenichi turned around to see a boy as old as him.
"Seventeen seconds." He stated.
"Huh?" Kenichi gaped at him.
"Seventeen seconds is all that took to mop the floor with all those scumbags." The boy stated.
"I take it that you are a Fist and a taekwondo practitioner?" Kenichi said. He stood the same way Kisara sometimes stood, her legs always ready to spring into a stance. The boy raised an eyebrow.
"Not only a brawler but a genius analyst too." He said. The said compliment made Kenichi blush.
"Aw, even my masters didn't compliment me like that. They called me a talentless guy with the only talent being the talent of getting beaten up." Kenichi stuttered. The boy now sweat dropped.
"You just lay waste to at least 45 guys and you're masters call you talentless? What are they, masters from hell?" he asked. Kenichi suddenly turned serious.
"You have no idea." He replied.
"Oi, Niöhoggr! Who is out there?" A raucous voice came out. Very soon the owner of the voice followed it. He was a very large boy and Kenichi decided to put him as a Judo practitioner. Or a pro wrestling fighter.
"Your Norse name is Niohoggr?" Kenichi asked the Taekwondo Artist.
"Yup, Niohoggr the fierce dragon. You don't wanna get on the wrong side of me!" Niohoggr said proudly.
"I don't think I want to get on any side of someone as ugly as you." Kenichi intentionally insulted him.
"He told you that, Niohoggr." The boy started laughing. Niohoggr grew even more angry.
"Shut up Beowulf." He snarled.
By now, Kenichi noticed, that four of the fists had come out. All of them were looking curiously at the two yelling at each other.
"Ah, all of you are here Tyr, Odin, Thor and Valkyrie." Beowulf brightened.
"This guy thinks he is quite a hot shot." Niohoggr said.
Kenichi by now had seen every dingle fist's glove. Curiously, Niohoggr was the seventh while Beowulf was the fifth. Tyr was sixth and Kenichi already had known he was the sixth, on account of his legs being similar to Christopher Éclair's. Thor had already betrayed his style, holding up his arms as a boxer. His gloves were not the typical Fist's gloves but were actually boxing gloves. He was the Fourth. Odin was most probably a Karate fighter. Valkyrie, the only female, was the second fist. She was just standing normally without a stance.
She is the smartest, not betraying her style. Kenichi decided.
"Oh yeah, I forgot to ask. Why are you here?" Beowulf suddenly remembered and asked.
"Oh, I heard that all of you are pretty tough opponents so I came here requesting a match with all of you." Kenichi said. This caused all of the rest to laugh out loud.
"Oh man that was rich. You challenge us? Sure you may know a few tricks but you are nowhere near us." Odin bragged proudly.
"Terrified, I see." Kenichi taunted. But inwardly, he was scared stiff. Both Odin and Thor were much larger than him while both Niohoggr and Tyr gave off the feeling of being many times longer than they were.
It's faint but I can sense their Ki. Except for Valkyrie and Tyr, all the rest of these guys are Dou fighters. Heh heh, Saint Fist, you keep a sharp eye for talent don't you? Kenichi thought.
Both Niohoggr and Tyr suddenly swung their legs at Kenichi at the same time. Kenichi had already activated Ryuusui Seikuken as soon as he had finished the thought. Like a mountain stream's water, he flowed out of the way gracefully and without Kenichi in between, Niohoggr and Tyr ended up kicking each other.
"Why you little twerp!" Niohoggr yelled as he aimed another kick at Kenichi. Before he could even begin swinging his leg, Kenichi punched him in the face. Niohoggr fell down, knocked out cold. Kenichi rubbed his knuckles, his Ki flowing around him in his Sei style pattern. He looked at the rest and the force of his Ki forced the rest to take a step back.
"One down." Kenichi said quietly.
Thor aimed a straight punch at him. Kenichi swatted Thor's arm away, grabbed his other arm and threw him on top of the downed Niohoggr.
"Two down." Kenichi announced.
"Get him!" Odin yelled. Tyr, Beowulf and Odin leaped at him. One elbow in Odin's solar plexus, A fist in Beowulf's face and by catching Tyr's kicking leg, an Ugyuu Haitou into Tyr's torso ended all three fighter's advancement.
"Try this, Jujitsu Devil!" Valkyrie cried out as she yanked out a large hidden butterfly knife and lunged at Kenichi.
"Uwaaaah! WEAPONS ARE SCARY!" Kenichi yelled. He dodged all of Valkyrie's thrusts efficiently but did not even lay a hand on her.
"And besides. I shall never fight a girl." Kenichi added. This only ended up infuriating the girl who made her thrust's even sharper and was in fact the first of the Fist's to wound Kenichi. He got a small cut on the back of his hand as he reached upto Valkyrie's shoulder. A jujitsu throw brought her in front of Kenichi who performed a choke hold on her. She struggled a little but soon lost consciousness.
Another person started clapping. The immense Ki pressure which Kenichi had felt before a long time ago fell on him again. Without turning he spoke.
"Who is the first Fist, Ogata?"
"My my, such audacity! Why ask me? Why not ask him yourself?" the Master manipulator and martial artist sneered from on top of a telephone pole.
"I would. But tell me. Would I get a reward if I beat him?" Kenichi asked, making a risky gambit.
Ogata Isshinsai the Saint Fist cocked his head, considering the deal.
"What do you want?" he said finally.
"One week of training with you and after that a match with Ryuto Asamiya." Kenichi said.
A whole minute passed during which Ogata laughed heartily.
"I knew it! I knew it! I knew you were destined to be my disciple! Fine! Berserker, fight him." Ogata ordered.
"Berserker?" Kenichi whipped around to see the old Ragnorak member step into the field. He simply chewed bubblegum and Kenichi noticed that now he was constantly emitting Dou Ki.
"Both of you, fight!" Ogata called out.